Hermione was rather satisfied with how her conversation with Regulus Black had progressed. She honestly hadn't expected to make such headway with him so soon, but was nonetheless delighted to discover that he was already amenable to a change in his original path.
He seemed eager to reconnect with Sirius one way or another and his decision to approach her, a known muggleborn, was certainly indicative of the strength of that desire. He had even been completely genial during their entire conversation, never once behaving in a manner that suggested that he thought her beneath him.
The most important course of action now was to find a way to reconnect the two brothers without Sirius going completely mental before anyone can even get a word in.
She had ended up telling Regulus that she would work on it, as well as enlist Luna's help in approaching Sirius due to his obvious distrust of all Slytherins. He had seemed inordinately grateful, though being a Slytherin only displayed this emotion with a small genuine smile and a nod of his head. It was enough for Hermione. She had long since become accustomed to Slytherins' inability to show emotions. Even Pansy seemed to struggle with it.
In any case, there were unfortunately more important things to worry about right now than Slytherin/Griffindor dynamics. The trio of time travelers had the arduous task of retrieving and destroying another horcrux this weekend all before the students returned from Hogsmead.
Pansy Parkinson was preparing to break another one of the Gaunt House's many protective enchantments when it occurred to her that had she been told during her original Hogwarts days that she would be about to destroy another piece of the Dark Lord's soul along with her best friends Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood, she would have not only called that person crazy but probably would have snidely laughed in their face.
Presently such experiences were not out of the ordinary at all and in fact felt much more worthy of her time than the shallow existence she had experienced before joining her two friends.
As the last of the main outer enchantments fell away, Hermione stepped forward towards the door, sliced open her hand, and ran her palm across the rotting wood. Her blood smeared across the dark material gorily and Luna stepped up immediately to heal the hand as the girls watched the old door creak open deliberately, satisfied with the blood sacrifice.
Hermione finally waved Luna away and stepped through the door fearlessly, echoing days of Griffindor adventures past. She paused just inside the entryway and turned to Luna, who had just entered after her. The blonde headed girl pointed downward without the need for words and then led them towards the entranceway to the cellar. Pansy had entered by this point and was looking around the decrepit hovel with a scrunched nose. She broke the silence that had unknowingly persisted since the witches had discovered the old Gaunt residence.
"More proof that blood purity isn't everything," she said prissily, eying the various rat droppings scattered across the floor.
The slight tension in the air lifted as Luna giggled and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So a dirty house is what finally convinced you, eh? Not the dark lord that's been terrorizing all of wizard kind or the continued hypocrisy of the pureblood class; no, it was Tom's grandfather's dirty house that convinced you," Hermione finished teasingly.
Pansy stuck her tongue out in faux irritation and then dramatically pouted her lips, pretending to be put out.
"You have your justifications and I have mine," she replied in mock seriousness, causing another round of giggles from Luna and an actual burst of laughter from Hermione. They both knew that Pansy wasn't actually as shallow as she always pretended to be.
"All right girls enough stalling; we've got a dark lord to destroy," Hermione stated in an imperious tone.
"Of course," Pansy replied with a serious face, trying not to laugh at Hermione's pompous routine.
"Well then, lead the way dear Luna," Hermione directed to their third member who had been smiling dreamily at her two friends.
Without a word, Luna descended the rickety old stairs into the dank cellar.
Immediately, she sensed the presence of another creature in the room. Luna peered into the darkness as she quietly stepped toward the location where she could sense both the creature and the foul presence of Voldemort's horcrux.
"It has been many years since a human has ventured here. In fact the wizard that captured and bound me to this forsaken pit was the last," a strong female voice purred from the shadows.
A human face appeared followed by the body of a lion. Luna recognized the creature immediately: a sphinx. How Tom Riddle had managed to capture one and confine it here was a question most intriguing to Luna.
"Hello Madame Sphinx," said Luna politely, "my name is Luna. How in the world have you come to be trapped in such a place?"
The sphinx raised one perfectly sculpted black eyebrow at the dotty girl's lack of fear in the face of a notoriously violent predator, but deigned to answer her question nonetheless.
"A wizard caught me and magically bound me to this place in order to guard his treasure. Now it is my obligation to ask you a riddle. You may leave now should you wish to guarantee your life, for if you should answer the riddle incorrectly, you will surely be killed."
Luna tilted her head curiously, staring at the beast, as she was wont to do when in contemplation.
"Very well, I should like to answer the riddle if you please," she answered nonchalantly.
The sphinx seemed to prepare herself to speak in a more formal voice as she began:
"It's more powerful than the gods,
It's more destructive than hate,
The poor have it,
The rich need it
If you eat it, you'll die.
What is it?"
The former Ravenclaw took her time pondering the riddle, almost feeling nostalgic for her former dormitory and its riddle passwords. Eventually, Luna decided on her answer.
"The answer is: nothing," Luna replied confidently, "Nothing is more powerful than the gods; nothing is more destructive than hate; the poor have nothing; the rich need nothing; if you eat nothing, you will die."
The great sphinx bowed her head in consent and gracefully stepped aside to reveal a crude ring sitting unassumingly on a pedestal. Luna crept carefully toward the evil emanating object with trepidation. She knew better than to even touch it, despite this being the legendary resurrection stone. She slowly drew a basilisk fang from one of the many hidden pockets in her cloak and raised it above her head. The ring was already humming loudly with hatred as it sensed the imminent threat; it oozed temptations and promises that Luna knew better than to listen to.
With a swift strike, the time traveller brought the fang down to the ring and jabbed it forcefully into the stone, making sure that plenty of venom seeped into the crack. Black puss began to leak out of the smoking ring and terrible screams grated against the sensitive girl's ears.
With the ring finally settling into a quiet death, Luna drew out a handkerchief and swiftly wrapped up the former horcrux to take with her. She then turned to the now quiet sphinx that stood to the side watching the proceedings curiously.
"Now that you no longer have anything to guard, would you like any help getting back to where you came from," Luna asked sincerely.
The sphinx eyed the strange, large-eyed child warily before replying with only a little contempt, "I am perfectly capable of managing without the help of a human."
Luna simply smiled at her and nodded in understanding before skipping back to the stairwell and climbing out back into the open house.
"You didn't signal us to come down," was Hermione's immediate greeting as she took Luna by the shoulders and looked her over for any obvious problems.
"Not to worry, I've already handled it," Luna replied dreamily, handing the handkerchief and ring over to Hermione.
"Luna! You didn't have to go off and destroy it yourself! You were supposed to signal us down once you made sure it was clear," Hermione groaned slightly distressed by Luna's complete lack of concern for her own safety.
"Well, there was this sphinx you see and we got to talking and well I figured I might as well destroy the horcrux since I was already there anyway and there just wasn't time to call for you," Luna replied innocently.
"A sphinx!" Hermione exclaimed in an unknowing intimidation of Molly Weasley's worried voice.
"It's a good thing we sent a Ravenclaw down," Pansy muttered from the side while secretly also worried about how dangerous the situation could have been for their friend.
Hermione smacked her lightly in reprimand on the arm and Pansy quickly grabbed said arm and glared back at Hermione.
The bushy haired witch merely turned back to Luna and said in a much calmer tone of voice, "just don't worry us like that again Luna. We're a team you know."
Hermione then jumped at Luna to give her a hug while Pansy rolled her eyes at the touchy feely expressions of affection they were prone to.
"Alright let me get in on this," Pansy sighed exaggeratedly as she wrapped her arms around the other two as if it was an arduous task for her when really she enjoyed these little moments of closeness in their friendship.
The three hugged for a few more moments before realizing they had to get back to Hogwarts before the rest of the students returned from Hogsmead.
"Well, back to our bizarre second Hogwarts experience," Pansy said brightly, causing the other two to chuckle in solidarity.